Chapter 7 - THE SIEGE OF MORETTI MANOR
By 1:00 PM, the long gravel driveway of the Moretti estate was lined with dozens of luxury sedans. Heavy-set men in expensive suits with concealed shoulder holsters filled the grand foyer, their low voices echoing against the high ceilings.
The atmosphere was thick with tension, like a powder keg waiting for a single spark.
I stood at the top of the grand staircase wearing a tailored black dress that Luca’s staff had provided. My hair was styled elegantly, and around my neck hung the silver locket. I looked like a woman who belonged in this world of wealth and power, even if inside I felt like the girl serving champagne flutes.
Luca stood beside me, adjusting his cuffs.
Down below, in the grand dining hall, thirty syndicate elders sat around a massive mahogany table. At the far end of the table sat Dominick Moretti—a stern, grey-haired man in his late sixties with cold, calculating eyes.
"Are you ready?" Luca whispered to me.
"Yes," I replied, taking a deep breath.
We walked down the staircase together, flanked by Julian and four tactical guards. When we entered the grand dining hall, the chatter stopped instantly. Every eye in the room locked onto Luca—and then onto me.
Dominick Moretti leaned back in his leather chair, a patronizing smirk on his face.
"Luca," Dominick spoke, his voice raspy from decades of cigars. "We heard about the scene at the hotel gala Thursday night. Your crippled daughter making a spectacle of herself... and now you bring a catering girl into a private council meeting?"
A few low chuckles rippled through the room from Dominick's loyalists.
Luca walked to the head of the table, placing both hands flat on the polished wood. He didn't sit. He stood tall, towering over the room with absolute authority.
"My daughter walked three steps on her own legs Thursday night, Dominick," Luca said, his voice cutting through the room like a steel whip. "And the woman standing beside me is Hannah Carter—the woman who saved Sophia from the river three years ago."
Dominick's smirk faltered slightly, his eyes darting toward me, examining the silver locket resting against my dress.
"Why are we wasting time with old stories?" Dominick sneered, recovering his composure. "We are here to discuss business! The transport docks are losing money! The Vane family is pushing into our territory! You have been distracted by a dead wife and a sick child for three years, Luca. It's time for new leadership!"
"The docks aren't losing money, Dominick," Luca countered smoothly. "They were being robbed. By you."
The room gasped.
Dominick slammed his fist on the table. "How dare you insult me in front of the council! I built this family!"
"Julian," Luca commanded calmly.
Julian stepped forward, activating a massive projection screen at the end of the room. Instantly, the contents of the encrypted drive—the offshore bank transfers, the Swiss forged medical reports, and the wiretap recordings between Dominick and Arthur Vance—flooded the screen in high definition.
Dominick’s face went entirely white.
"Three years ago," I spoke up, stepping forward so every man in the room could see me clearly. "I pulled Sophia out of a car whose brake lines had been cut. Her mother pressed this silver locket into my hands before she drowned. Inside this locket was the proof that Dominick Moretti paid Arthur Vance to sabotage the vehicle."
Murmurs of shock and anger exploded among the syndicate elders. In the mafia code, attacking a leader’s wife and child was an unforgivable sin—a violation that demanded death.
"This is a lie! It's a setup!" Dominick yelled, standing up frantically and reaching inside his jacket for a firearm!
Before Dominick’s hand could clear his holster, Luca pulled his own weapon with blinding speed.
BANG!
A single gunshot echoed through the massive dining hall.
Dominick’s gun clattered to the floor. He dropped back into his leather chair, clutching his shattered shoulder, groaning in agony.
Silence descended upon the room once again. The metallic smell of gunpowder filled the air.
Luca stood over his bleeding uncle, pointing the smoking barrel directly at the older man's forehead.
"You tried to murder my daughter," Luca whispered, his tone so cold it froze the blood of every man in that room. "You tried to make me believe she wasn't mine. You sold our family to the Vanes."
"Luca... please... blood..." Dominick gasped, tears of pain running down his face. "We are blood..."
"My blood is sitting upstairs in a bedroom," Luca said quietly. "And standing right beside me."
Luca turned his gaze to the rest of the council members. "Is there anyone else in this room who wants to challenge my leadership?"
Not a single man moved. One by one, the thirty syndicate elders bowed their heads in absolute submission to their king.
"Julian," Luca said, lowering his gun. "Remove him. Hand him over to the federal authorities along with the drive. Let him die in a prison cell."
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As the guards dragged the screaming Dominick out of the hall, Luca turned to me. The dangerous mob boss disappeared, replaced by the man who looked at me as if I were his entire world.
He held out his hand to me. "Come, Hannah. Let's go check on our daughter."
